The San Diego Chargers fined safety Eric Weddle $10,000 for staying on the field at halftime during a Week 15 game against the Miami Dolphins so he could watch his daughter perform during a dance ceremony.
Chargers fine Eric Weddle $10K for watching his daughter perform at halftime
Weddle’s career with the Chargers is almost certainly through and it ends on a sour note.
After not disclosing the fine for a week, Weddle’s agent David Canter tweeted about the fine in an angry series of tweets directed at the Chargers. The team placed Weddle on injured reserve on Monday against the player’s wishes, almost certainly ending his career with the team, and according to Canter, the Chargers aren’t going to let Weddle travel with the team in Week 17.
On Monday, Chargers head coach Mike McCoy confirmed the $10,000 fine for Weddle and said the organization was just following a team policy.
Weddle is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2015 season and a return to play for the Chargers seems unlikely given the fractured nature of his relationship with the franchise. In the offseason he opted not to attend OTAs in an attempt to get a new contract from the team, but the Chargers announced that no contract negotiations would happen with the safety.
In Week 15, the last home game of the season for the Chargers, the team pulled Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates and Malcom Floyd and allowed for a standing ovation from the fans, but Weddle's impending departure was largely ignored by the organization.
Weddle was among the Chargers players who treated that home game like it might be his last in that stadium, and stayed around to sign autographs for fans.
The Chargers finish the season with a road game against the Denver Broncos, but according to Canter, the team's reason for not bringing the safety along for the trip is that they couldn't fit him on the plane.
Team didn't announce injured players couldn't travel to Denver until after putting @weddlesbeard on IR. Said plane is to small. Hysterical
— DEC Management (@davidcanter) December 28, 2015 Weddle was selected by the Chargers in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft and has played in 137 games for the team. He earned Pro Bowl nods in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
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